Quickie Update & Writing Sample

The last few weeks have been both busy and distracting. I have to be honest – I’ve been digging into Mass Effect 2 for the most part as I continue to wait for my storyboards to come in. I’m also waiting for a pencil test. I’m also assisting in KaboingTV as much as I can, and sooner or later I’ll be really delving into the site’s upkeep along with the webtoon. In a way, I’ve been sort of relaxing somewhat before the poop hits the fan, where I have to really start putting all the elements of this together. Truth is I -do- have to catch up on my gaming. I also do have another blog post at the ready, but I’m somewhat in a bind because I need to acquire some pictures, and this has proven to be difficult.

Still, I could only slack off for so long before I got the itch to write spec again, and as Survival Instincts got off the ground, I began planning out another idea, inspired by a recent Netflix run of Doctor Who and Firefly. That combination of thrilling action, endearing humor, rich characters, and surprisingly dark and powerful themes spurred the idea of an animated version. Weeks turned into months of planning out the details and characters, as well as the parameters of the story’s universe. While there’s still a ton of elements to plan out, I decided to work with the basic characters types I developed and write an hour-long pilot spec.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find that a lot more can be discovered about your story and characters in simply writing it instead of planning it out beforehand (as a rough, of course). Characters names popped in my head immediately; dialogue opening up their histories and characteristics; the story itself inspiring ideas for future episodes that would be enjoyable to work on. Of course, this is all speculation, but even having a few spec episodes in the portfolio would increase my chances with an agent or manager. Plus, it’s FUN. I’ve had such a blast writing this up that I ended up doing thirty pages in three days. In writing parlance: five pages a day is ideal on a typical writer’s best day.

Still, it’s rough n’ tumble, and certainly needs to be re-written. But writing to ENJOY it has been something I’ve been missing, and it’s good to have that feeling again. Here’s a screenshot of what I’ve been toying with. (Just so you know: Jaren is a wolf, Liana is a fox, Marigold is a snow leopard, and Dr. Tedrick is a kangaroo. Yes, they’re animal characters. Helps because I can make them larger-than-life.)